Free Web NovelWhen I heard the name in Chinese, I didn’t recognize it, but once I saw the face, I understood.
It was Alvin Zhou, the man who would rise to become the king of Macau’s casinos.
In the future, he would become a giant who owned over twenty casinos in Macau alone.
On top of that, he wouldn’t stop at gambling—he would plunge into the entertainment and film industries and succeed as well.
Which meant this man, who claimed he had nothing to do with today’s matter, might simply be lying to survive.
“Zhou Weihua—your English name is Alvin Zhou, right?”
“Yes? Yes! That’s correct. Please spare me. I have nothing to do with what happened today.”
Zhou Weihua crawled toward me, trying to grab my leg, but Chief Ma blocked him.
With a cold, indifferent expression, he stomped on Zhou Weihua’s outstretched hand.
“Ugh!”
“Do not come any closer. You are not someone who may lay hands on a person of his standing. Understood?”
When Zhou Weihua nodded, Chief Ma removed his foot from the man’s hand.
“You say you’re unrelated to this? But the 14K underboss said otherwise. He said you gave all the orders.”
“N-no! I haven’t even entered the entertainment industry yet!”
Chief Ma brought over a chair and placed it behind me. I sat down and continued speaking.
“Can you prove it? That you’re completely unrelated?”
“T-that... that’s...”
Proving you didn’t do something is never easy.
Knowing that, Zhou Weihua hesitated.
“You will have to prove it. Otherwise, as long as you’re the boss, you can’t escape responsibility.”
“It’s the truth! I don’t know why the underboss did such a thing, but I’m currently trying to establish myself in Macau. After Wan Kuokkoi was arrested, our influence completely vanished. To regain it—”
Zhou Weihua tried hard to explain his situation, but I cut him off without mercy.
“I don’t care about your circumstances. Just prove that you didn’t give the order. Then I will at least spare your life.”
“H-how am I supposed to prove that?”
“That’s your problem to solve.”
When I spoke coldly, Zhou Weihua continued with a trembling voice.
“I-I didn’t want to become 14K’s boss. Originally, Wan Kuokkoi wanted to make Gao Jun the boss.” freewebnøvel.coɱ
Zhou Weihua looked at Hao Xun instead of me as he spoke.
“As you know, Vice President, triads value origin and lineage very highly, don’t they?”
Hao Xun nodded.
“The members collectively refused to accept Gao Jun as their boss. That’s why I ended up taking the position. I used to manage Macau under Wan Kuokkoi, after all. What reason would I have to order the underboss to carry out something this big?”
It seemed even Hao Xun agreed with his explanation, because he nodded and added details for me.
“Among black societies, triads founded in Hong Kong and Macau tend to be especially strict about such things. They care about whether someone is of the organization’s lineage or not. It’s common to pass leadership to a son.”
It’s not like lineage puts food on the table, yet gangsters love this nonsense.
I remained silent and simply listened.
“Wan Kuokkoi probably wanted to protect himself in prison, so he agreed to hand leadership to Gao Jun. But since the members wouldn’t accept it, they installed Zhou Weihua as a puppet instead.”
“Let’s assume that’s all true. Then why would you even bother placing Gao Jun in the underboss position?”
I asked the question to Hao Xun, but Zhou Weihua answered instead.
“I can explain. Not everyone refused. So Wan Kuokkoi called me to prison. He asked me to act as boss, but to acknowledge Gao Jun as underboss. In exchange, he promised to hand me full authority over Macau.”
Listening to both of them, I organized the pieces in my mind.
Wan Kuokkoi, to prevent members from defecting, propped up Zhou Weihua as a puppet.
Gao Jun was the one truly handling everything, while Zhou Weihua focused only on maintaining his influence in Macau.
There was a high chance their story was true. I turned to Hao Xun.
“Vice President, why are you siding with Zhou Weihua? Do the two of you know each other?”
“No. This is my first time meeting him.”
“Then why does it feel like you’re defending him? Almost as if you’re involved too.”
“...I just don’t like shedding unnecessary blood. Of course, when someone needs to die, I will kill them.”
I also don’t prefer killing people who have nothing to do with the matter.
But this time, Cheon Jiyoung was involved.
“Call them in.”
“Yes.”
At my order, Chief Ma entered with two employees.
“Don’t kill him. Just extract everything he knows.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Things like this were best left to experts. I turned to leave.
“Shall we pay the underboss a visit?”
“W-wait a moment.”
Zhou Weihua called out desperately, but I ignored him and walked out of the office.
As we walked to where Gao Jun was being held, Hao Xun asked,
“Will you kill him?”
“Even if he knew nothing, he is ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) still the boss of 14K.”
“He’s too valuable to kill just like that. If we use him properly, entering Macau will become much easier. After all, Macau is a place where you can’t even start a business without permission from Macau’s emperor, Chairman Stanley Ho.”
“That man is the emperor of Macau?”
Hao Xun nodded—there was a faint glint of ambition in his eyes.
“Yes. Since the 1960s, he held a casino license for forty years and monopolized the market. The monopoly was recently lifted, but his influence has only grown.”
“So you want to enter Macau.”
No wonder he kept defending Zhou Weihua. He had his own agenda.
“That’s right. The market has opened, but it’s still difficult for people from the mainland to enter. Meanwhile, American capital has already come in and begun building hotels. Ironically, Chairman Ho thoroughly blocks mainland Chinese from entering Macau.”
While we talked, we arrived at the room where Gao Jun was held.
The door opened, revealing Gao Jun bound and in terrible condition. ƒrēewebnovel.com
Far worse than Zhou Weihua.
“He must have resisted a lot. He’s practically on death’s door.”
“My apologies. Killing is easy, but subduing takes twice the effort. Many of our men were injured trying to restrain him.”
True enough. And since we needed information, he just had to stay alive.
I nodded and stepped inside.
“He’s still breathing.”
Barely—but breathing nonetheless. That was enough.
“Gao Jun.”
He reflexively turned his head toward my voice.
When he looked at me, his face was caked with blood, eyes barely able to open.
“Is Zhou Weihua the one who ordered you to kidnap Cheon Jiyoung? That bastard claims otherwise.”
Gao Jun slowly nodded.
“Y-yes. I... received the boss’s order and t-tried to k-kidnap Actress Cheon Jiyoung. I didn’t know she was connected to the Heukryonghoe. I... I only followed orders. Forgive me. Please spare me.”
Cruel when killing others, yet begging for mercy when their own life is at stake—whether Chinese or Korean, they’re the same.
“Your boss is Liu Han, isn’t he? That’s what I know.”
“...I no longer have ties with Boss Liu Han.”
For a moment, Gao Jun hesitated. I didn’t miss the opening.
“That’s not what I heard. I heard Wan Kuokkoi and Liu Han negotiated to make you the boss of 14K. In return, they promised Wan Kuokkoi a comfortable prison life and eventual parole. Isn’t that right?”
“N-no. I don’t know anything about that.”
“If you don’t know, then you’ll have to die. Well, I can always beat the truth out of Liu Han.”
“Please spare me! Please, I beg you!”
He begged desperately, but I gave Chief Ma a small nod.
“Kill him. We can hear the rest from Liu Han.”
Chief Ma immediately picked up a steel pipe from the floor.
Gao Jun’s face twisted in terror.
“W-wait!”
“You have something to say?”
“...”
“Kill him.”
I turned away without hesitation. When I looked back, Hao Xun’s expression was stiff.
“Why that face? Did you expect me to make some long-winded speech?”
“...No.”
“Then relax your expression. I also enjoy conversations. But conversations are held with people. There’s no talking to beasts.”
“Are you going to strike Chairman Liu Han?”
It seemed his stiff face was because of that.
“You’re the one who said he seemed to be the one who ordered this.”
“That’s true, but there’s no proof. It’s all just my suspicion. Chairman Liu Han is not someone like Zhou Weihua.”
Even as we spoke, dull thudding noises continued behind us.
Chief Ma was pounding Gao Jun into the floor.
He was deliberately refusing to finish him in one blow—he planned to beat him to death slowly.
That meant Chief Ma was furious as well.
There was no reason for me to stop him.
“W-wait. I’ll... I’ll talk...”
Gao Jun spoke in a voice barely above death.
“Chief Ma, pause.”
Chief Ma immediately stopped. Only then could we hear Gao Jun’s ragged breathing.
“I can’t hear you well. Speak clearly.”
Chief Ma opened a water bottle and splashed it on Gao Jun’s face.
“I-I... I’ll say everything.”
With the water running down his head, he finally managed to open his mouth.
“Good. Just know that if your answer isn’t what I want, I’ll throw you to the fighting dogs. You’ll be eaten alive. If you give me the answer I want, I’ll kill you quickly.”
Terrified, Gao Jun listened without daring to breathe.
He trembled and finally moved his lips.
“B-Boss Liu Han... sent me here. H-he told me to take over 14K.”
“What about this incident? Was it Liu Han’s order? Or Zhou Weihua’s?”
“I did it alone. Boss Zhou Weihua didn’t know, and Boss Liu Han didn’t know either.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that?”
“I-it’s the truth.”
I glanced at Hao Xun. As if he already knew what I would say, his expression hardened further.
“We finally have testimony.”
“...”
Hao Xun sighed and questioned Gao Jun.
“Chairman Liu Han sent you here, right? If this goes wrong, it won’t end with just your death. Answer accurately.”
“It’s all true. He told me to take control of 14K. He said it was agreed upon with Wan Kuokkoi. Once I gained the members’ trust, we were planning to remove Boss Zhou Weihua from his position.”
“You mean kill him?”
Gao Jun quickly shook his head.
“No. Not kill him—just keep him from leaving Macau.”
“Wow... you’re making this messy. So Chairman Liu Han ordered the kidnapping of the celebrities?”
“N-no! I acted alone.”
“Hey! Does that even make sense? You carried out this operation without the boss’s permission? Unless you were—”
Then suddenly, as if a thought struck him, Hao Xun trailed off.
Gao Jun avoided his eyes.
“You asked someone else?”
“N-no.”
“What’s the point of hiding it now? Just speak honestly.”
“...”
Gao Jun clamped his mouth shut. I stepped forward, crouched down, and looked him in the eyes.
They were filled with pure fear.
Even after observing him for a long time, he was just trembling—nothing more.
“Still being disgusting to the end. Pathetic. Chief Ma, grind him down and feed him to the fighting dogs. Though their taste is picky, so who knows if they’ll eat him. Let’s wrap up.”
There was nothing more to extract from him. I stood up without hesitation.
Chief Ma lifted the steel pipe again, and seeing that, Gao Jun blurted out,
“I know! It was the Wanda Group.”
Why was the Wanda Group suddenly in this?
“Wanda Group? The one chaired by Wang Jianlin? The Princeling faction?”
“Y-yes...”
Hao Xun closed his eyes and sighed deeply. I felt the same way.
